Weight loss: I shed 6st so I could tie the knot in size 12 wedding dress of my dreams
EMMA Bass felt sick to her stomach as she saw a photo of herself “bursting” out of her dress at a work Christmas party. The children’s nanny, 39, had ballooned to a staggering 16 stone after scoffing biscuits and gorging on double dinners for as long as she could remember. And Emma, from Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, […]
EMMA Bass felt sick to her stomach as she saw a photo of herself “bursting” out of her dress at a work Christmas party.
The children’s nanny, 39, had ballooned to a staggering 16 stone after scoffing biscuits and gorging on double dinners for as long as she could remember.
And Emma, from Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, was completely horrified when she saw just how much weight she had piled on over the years.
Determined to slim down in time for her wedding day, Emma overhauled her diet and has since shed an incredible six stone.
She tied the knot to her love of her life Russell Bass, 44, in a trim size 12 bridal gown – and is now happier than she’s ever been.
Emma said: “It was something I did myself, nobody else did it for me. It was hard work, but it was a real achievement.”
Emma admits she had always struggled with her weight since childhood – and was bullied at school because of her size.
“I was overweight at school and would get bullied,” Emma said.
“At home, food was always there. There would be a pudding with every meal.
“I did lose some weight when I was 15, but the bullies found something else to pick on, so I went back to my old ways.
“As an adult, I tried different diets, but never really stuck to anything, and eventually got to 16st 3lb and was wearing a size 22.”
At that point, 5ft 4in Emma had a body mass index (BMI), used to measure a healthy weight, of 38.5 compared to the NHS recommended figure of between 18.5 to 24.9, meaning she was obese.
However, Emma, who has a son Zac, eight, and a teenage stepson, continued to gorge on huge amounts of food to deal with her emotions.
She said: “Food had always been a massive comfort to me, so I had grown used to eating on my feelings and had just been getting bigger and bigger.
“I told myself I didn’t care what I looked like, but really I was feeling so rubbish about myself.
“My self-esteem was at rock bottom, so I didn’t feel like it mattered what I was eating.”
Despite this, Emma soon realised the huge toll it was having on her life – especially the physical demands that came with her nannying job.
She said: “I always had bad knees and my back always hurt.
“I had quite a physical job as a nanny and found getting the children in and out of the car quite hard.
I never had any portion control and would eat a lot of carbs, like a big portion of lasagne and chips for tea
Emma Bass
“I never had any portion control and would eat a lot of carbs, like a big portion of lasagne and chips for tea.
“I would sometimes eat two dinners, eating my main meal at work then a bowl of cereal when I got home, or the other way round.
“I’d sit with a friend and we’d think nothing of sharing a whole packet of biscuits between us.”
Emma’s weight meant she also struggled with dating – which just made her spiral into an even deeper depression.
She added: “I went on dating apps, but that was bad for my confidence. I’d look my best in the picture, but when dates meet me they’d realise I’m a bigger girl and that would be it.
“I’ve got a history of depression, so looking after myself hasn’t always been important.
“I always found if I was having a bad patch I would turn to food for comfort and my healthy lifestyle became more of a battle.”
However, Emma’s wake-up call came when she saw a picture of herself at her work Christmas party.
She continued: “I knew I was big, but the turning point came after seeing myself in a photo from a work Christmas do in December 2015.
“I’d felt quite glamorous on that night. I liked the dress I’d bought, so it was quite a shock when I saw the picture and realised how big I was.
“It felt like every bit of me was bursting out of the dress.”
Shortly after, Emma visited the doctor for a review of her contraceptive pill – and it was there she was referred to slimming club WW.
I knew I was big, but the turning point came after seeing myself in a photo from a work Christmas do
Emma Bass
Emma soon signed up to the group and gradually saw the pounds drop off.
“The WW system would give me control over my portion sizes,” she said.
“Nothing was off limits which really helped.
“My weight loss journey has been slow – it’s taken me three and a half years and a lot of hard work because I did it in small steps, rather than having a massive loss – but it’s worked.
“Mine isn’t a typical story really.
“My weight came off very slowly and there were set backs, as I had some short relationships which had ended, but it’s still significant and I want people to know that losing weight is different for everyone, and not to give up.”
By January 2017, Emma met her now-husband Russell online and the following December he proposed at the ice rink at the Natural History Museum in London.
This spurred Emma on to lose more weight – as she was eager to look her best in her wedding dress.
“The wedding was planned for that July, so for the next six months I had a massive incentive to motivate me,” she said.
“I started going to the gym and invested in a personal trainer, having previously done no exercise.
“I would go to the gym two or three times a week.
“I got a step tracker and started walking into work, becoming quite competitive about getting my steps in.”
Emma added: “I bought my wedding dress in January and it was a size 16, but I should have bought a size 12, as by the time of our wedding my body shape changed so much, because of the exercise.
“The alterations cost almost as much as the dress!
“I know a lot of brides buy a dress too small as motivation, but I didn’t want that kind of pressure.
“If I’d fallen over and broken my leg and not been able to exercise I would never have lost that weight.”
Before the wedding, Emma enjoyed the fruits of her labour in the gym when she bought a size 14 playsuit for her hen night, which made her “feel on top of the world.”
She said: “It had always been a real challenge finding things that had fitted. I would hide away in baggy clothes, but this was completely different.
I’m a lot more energetic and doing things I never thought I would do now
Emma Bass
“It was an amazing feeling wearing the playsuit, then going on to walk down the aisle in my wedding dress, knowing I was looking the best I possibly could.”
Wearing her wedding dress was just one of the many memorable experiences that made Emma’s weight loss feel worthwhile.
She said: “I cried when I bought my first pair of size 12 shorts. And it was a monumental feeling dropping into the 10 stone bracket in March this year.
“As a child, I lost weight to stop the bullying and, as an adult, if I lost weight it would be to please someone in a relationship, but this time I really did it for me.”
Emma is now a lot more active and has become a running fanatic.
She added: “I’m a lot more energetic and doing things I never thought I would do now, like completing the coach to 5k running app.
“If you’d told me when I was a size 22 that I’d be doing that and taking part in park runs I would never have believed you.
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“It’s really good for my son, too. There is always fruit and veg in the house, we have salad with every meal and he knows that I’m doing my exercise and how important that is.
“Now I’m a healthy weight, I really feel I can be a good role model to him.”
For more information on WW you can visit their website here, and you can follow Emma on Instagram here.